A rare and endangered grass species is threatening to derail plans to build a $2 billion container terminal, delivering a blow to the federal government’s $35 billion infrastructure agenda.

Environmental groups are up in arms following revelations the director of the government’s newly established National Building Authority reportedly described the perennial and remnant grass species, known as Agrostis adamsonii, as a “weed".

“I need some options and right now one of them is Jim’s Mowing," the director reportedly told department staff.

Fortunately, the controversy is the creation of Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner and Rob Sitch, the team behind film and television hits including The Castle, Frontline and The Hollowmen.

The political satirists have turned their attention to the fictional government authority responsible for turning the “grand political dreams" of our politicians into reality, in their coming ABC television series Utopia.

The Working Dog team spoke to insiders on all sides of the infrastructure debate to pen the series which provides a revealing insight into why our road, rail and airports cost so much to build and take so long to finish.

Their timing is impeccable. International construction groups bidding for projects including Melbourne’s $8 billion East West Link road tunnel and the $1.6 billion light rail line along Sydney’s George Street have put the enormous cost of building major projects in Australia on the national agenda.

Despair at pollies

Related Quotes

Company Profile

Despite repeated setbacks and cost blowouts to projects, the Working Dog team despair at politicians who continue to roll out even grander and more ambitious infrastructure plans.

“If someone says we are going to improve logistics for the railway lines it’s like, ‘hmmm’ whereas if someone says we are going to create a European style metro system you go, ‘whooaa, OK’," Cilauro tells AFR Weekend.

Cilauro and Gleisner learned another frustration for big construction companies is the oversupply of spin doctors and media advisers who are focused on anything but building the projects. In the show, the department’s media adviser Rhonda is determined to “get the conversation started with stakeholders" by designing a new website, the Pipeline, despite the fact that “some of the projects are yet to be signed off ".

“Great, let’s get that out there. This project approved, this project pending, this project delivered on time and under budget. Let’s start tweeting, hash tagging and crowdsourcing," she tells the team.

Gleisner tells us another frustration the government officials revealed was that “on these big projects, you stray into so many people’s territory."

The federal government’s $2 billion terminal project has also met resistance from the director of Alpine National Parks, despite the nearest park being 600 kilometres away. “There’s a river on your boundary, technically part of its watershed includes an alpine national park," the director tells Rob Sitch’s character in the show that starts on August 13. “There is a shared catchment basin, anything you do on site could impact on the alpine area."

Dogged by staff turnover

The TV team’s conversations with developers and construction companies also revealed another frustration is the constant turnover of young staff.

“The longer term the project is the shorter term the staff’s tenure seems to be," Cilauro says. “The guy you are talking to this week about a 25-year project is gone two months later, he’s headed off to Barcelona," Cilauro laughs.

Even when the government officials, builders and advisers finally envision progress, projects can be thwarted.

The episode ends with Rob Sitch’s character receiving the second component of their flora and fauna report and the discovery of another endangered species. “Endangered? Protected? Does it eat grass?" Rob’s character asks.